The Party of European Socialists, the umbrella group of European Social Democratic and Labour parties with whom the IUF has worked closely on legislative proposals for regulating private equity and hedge funds, has launched a call for action to bring about fundamental financial reform in Europe.

For the first time in the over 20-year history of international labour relations at Danone, trade unionists representing Danone workers from all over the globe attended this year's meeting of the Danone Council for Information and Consultation (CIC), transforming it into a truly international structure.

A negotiated settlement between Unilever and the IUF has resolved the long, difficult conflict over the rights of precarious workers at the company's directlly-owned Lipton/Brooke Bond tea factory in Khanewal, Pakistan.

The negotiations took place under the auspices of the UK's National Contact Point responsible for the application of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The IUF made a submission to the OECD in March this year as part of a campaign which generated strong international support for the Khanewal workers and their struggle.

In a drive to destroy the independent union established last year by workers at the giant Haft Tapeh plantation/refining sugar complex in southern Iran, a court on October 12 sentenced 6 union leaders to immediate prison terms on charges stemming from October 2007.

Nestlé's Corporate Business Principles claim to "respect the right of employees to form representative organisations and to join – or not to join – trade unions, provided this right is freely exercised, and establish a constructive dialogue with these unions."

Should employees need some guidance on this issue management is there to help.

In October 2006, the IUF launched an international campaign in support of the workers at Unilever's Sewri factory in Mumbai (Bombay), India, organized in the Hindustan Lever Employees Union (HLEU). HLEU members rejected the company's proposed severance scheme and the union challenged the legality of the closure itself. Actions were organized locally and across India, and internationally by the IUF, including a submission to the UK government alleging grave violations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

A comprehensive settlement has now been reached and approved by the HLEU membership which resolves all issues arising from the closure. The HLEU has warmly thanked the IUF and all those who supported this long, difficult struggle by the Sewri workers and their union.

Members of the IUF-affiliated SIPTU, which organizes workers at Coca Cola HBC Ireland, have been on strike against the outsourcing of 130 jobs at five distribution locations since the end of August (see a video). In June, workers we given a "choice" by management: accept a reduction in terms and conditions amounting to up to 40% , or be transferred to a third party provider on similarly reduced terms. A first “welcome message” from the employer-to-be already announced upcoming redundancies.

Unions NSW (the organisation representing trade unions in the state of New South Wales) led a protest at the Australasian headquarters of Unilever in Sydney in support of the casual Lipton workers in Pakistan. Members from fraternal unions - the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and IUF affiliates the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AWMU) and the Australian Workers Union (AWU) - joined the protest.

Under the Rudd government's new industrial relations laws, flexibility clauses need to be included in all enterprise agreements, and employers are using the opportunity to undermine collective bargaining. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) and other Australian unions are challenging the employer drive through workplace action.

As the OECD released its latest Employment Outlook, which foresees a total of 57 million people without jobs in the world's 30 richest countries next year, the battle heated up over the price of a takeover of UK-based confectionery company Cadbury by Kraft, the world's second largest food corporation.

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The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an international federation of trade unions representing workers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; hotels, restaurants and catering services; all stages of tobacco processing. The IUF is composed of 427 affiliated trade unions in 127 countries representing over 10 million workers.